IndieCommunication: New Status Page and Features, Holiday Catalog Links, and More

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Here’s the IndieCommunication e-newsletter for Monday, November 18:

NEW: IndieCommerce Status Page

It’s 10:00 p.m. and you can’t access your website. You don’t know if the outage is with your internet service provider or if the entire IndieCommerce system is down. To help us get system status information to you (and from you) faster, we’ve built a new webpage that is updated by actual people when IndieCommerce is experiencing an outage or some other major issue. You can also use this page to report outages to the IndieCommerce staff. The new IndieCommerce Status Page is located here. Be sure to bookmark that page for future reference. If you have questions, please contact [email protected].

Angel Wings Wins One Free Year of IndieCommerce

For the past few years, the IndieCommerce team has randomly selected one bookstore to receive a free year of IndieCommerce. To qualify this year, the store needed to sign up for IndieCommerce between September 1 and October 31, 2019. This year’s winner was drawn from a hat by our own Scott Nafz. We want to congratulate Angel Wings Bookstore of Stem, North Carolina, and welcome them to IndieCommerce.

Regional Holiday Catalogs Now Available for IndieCommerce Websites

Just in time for the holidays, here is the current list of regional holiday catalogs. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

GLIBA: http://yoursitename.com/holiday/GLIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/GLIBA/holidaycatalog.html

MIBA: http://yoursitename.com/holiday/MIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be
http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/MIBA/holidaycatalog.html

MPIBA
http://yoursitename.com/holiday/MPIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/MPIBA/holidaycatalog.html

NAIBA
http://yoursitename.com/holiday/NAIBA/holidaycatalog.htm
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/NAIBA/holidaycatalog.html

NCIBA and SCIBA
http://yoursitename.com/holiday/california/holidaycatalog.htm
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/california/holidaycatalog.html

NEIBA
http://yoursitename.com/holiday/NEIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/NEIBA/holidaycatalog.html

PNBA
Coming soon!

SIBA
http://yoursitename.com/holiday/SIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Replace “yoursitename.com” in the above URL with your website URL. For example, if your website is “abatest.d7.indiebound.com” the final version would be http://abatest.d7.indiebound.com/holiday/SIBA/holidaycatalog.html

Is IndieLite the Right Website for You?

The number of IndieLite stores has grown dramatically over the past year, and both sales and customer traffic have seen tremendous growth. Just in time for the holidays and at no extra cost, ABA’s IndieCommerce team is presenting three new features for IndieLite sites: 

  • Book Lists: Stores now have five front page book lists available to them (two more than they had before).
  • Block Title Links: Booksellers can now link block titles to a separate webpage.
  • Gift Cards: Booksellers now have the ability to sell gift cards this holiday season via their IndieLite website.

Booksellers who are interested in learning more about low cost e-commerce solution IndieLite and how it could work for their store are encouraged to sign up for the very first IndieLite seminar, taking place at Winter Institute 2020 in Baltimore on Tuesday, January 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Topics covered at the hands-on seminar will include content creation and management, order processing, and how to make the most of your IndieLite website. Attendees will also have access to a test site once the session is over where they can try out what they learned. 

Registration is open to booksellers who currently use IndieLite or are considering starting an IndieLite website. Booksellers with questions about the new IndieLite features or the upcoming IndieLite seminar can send the IndieCommerce team an e-mail at [email protected].


Booksellers are encouraged to send their thoughts, questions, or suggestions via e-mail to IndieCommerce staff at any time.

Past editions of IndieCommunication are available on the IndieCommerce Updates page on BookWeb.org.